Snowplow route optimization that balances lane miles, cycle time and salt, then logs every pass
Snowplow route optimization is the work of dividing a road network into plow routes that each finish inside a target cycle time, given lane miles, truck and spreader capacity, salt reload trips and street priority. FHWA reports that over 70 percent of the nation's roads are in snowy regions, that agencies spend more than 2.3 billion dollars a year on snow and ice control, and that 116,800 people are injured annually on snowy, slushy or icy pavement. Neurobird balances the routes and logs every pass.
Neurobird Snowplow Route Optimization in short
- Classify streets by priority and build routes that finish inside a target cycle time
- Balance lane miles, turnarounds, salt capacity and reload trips across the trucks you actually have
- Reassign coverage when a truck or an operator is lost, without redrawing the map by radio
- 70% Over 70 percent of the nation's roads are in snowy regions that receive more than 5 inches of average annual snowfall, and nearly 70 percent of the US population lives in them. FHWA Road Weather Management
- 2.3 billion State and local agencies spend more than 2.3 billion dollars a year on snow and ice control operations, and winter road maintenance is roughly 20 percent of state DOT maintenance budgets. FHWA Road Weather Management
- Pricing runs 260 to 980 US dollars per month across 3 tiers. Early access is free.
What public works and winter maintenance managers actually deal with
Why it stays broken
Winter routes are a capacitated routing problem with priorities, solved once by hand and then frozen for 20 years. Meanwhile the city annexed 3 subdivisions and added 118 lane miles, and the map never changed.
Winter maintenance runs about 20 percent of a state DOT maintenance budget, and one unbalanced route drags all 118 lane miles behind it.
State and local agencies spend more than 2.3 billion dollars on snow and ice control operations annually.
Neurobird Snowplow Route Optimization Dispatch Platform
Start from the network rather than the old map. Classify streets by priority, set a target cycle time, then build routes to hit it and rebuild them when a truck drops out mid storm.
- 1Classify streets by priority and build routes that finish inside a target cycle time
- 2Balance lane miles, turnarounds, salt capacity and reload trips across the trucks you actually have
- 3Reassign coverage when a truck or an operator is lost, without redrawing the map by radio
- 4Log passes so a missed street question has an answer instead of an argument
What changes with Neurobird Snowplow Route Optimization?
The same work, read left to right: how it runs today, and how it runs once the record is in one place.
| Today | With Neurobird Snowplow Route Optimization |
|---|---|
| Routes were drawn on a paper map by a superintendent who has retired, and nobody knows why route 7 runs 45 minutes longer than route 6 | Classify streets by priority and build routes that finish inside a target cycle time |
| A truck goes down at 3am and the reassignment happens over the radio, from memory, in the middle of a storm | Balance lane miles, turnarounds, salt capacity and reload trips across the trucks you actually have |
| The council asks why a street was missed and the only evidence anyone has is the operator's word | Reassign coverage when a truck or an operator is lost, without redrawing the map by radio |
Who is this for?
Same network, three different scales.
You run 6 to 10 trucks
One breakdown changes everything. You need routes that can be rebalanced during a storm instead of covered by whoever is nearest.
You cover rural lane miles
Long routes, few reload points, wind and drifting. You need reload trips designed in rather than discovered at the tailgate.
You answer for performance
Cycle time targets are reported, not estimated. You need pass logs and season analysis that stand up in a budget hearing.
How does Neurobird Snowplow Route Optimization work?
Classify the network
Every street gets a priority class and a lane mile count, so arterials, bus routes, hills and residential loops are not treated as one pile.
Build routes to a target
Routes are balanced against cycle time, spreader capacity and reload trips, using the trucks and yards you actually have.
Log the storm
Passes and material use are recorded as they happen, so the council question and next season's plan both have evidence behind them.
The winter plan, route by route
A working preview. Tick a route to balance it against the target cycle time.
Drag a job onto a operator to assign it.
What winter maintenance actually costs and causes
Useful if you are defending a budget or rewriting a winter plan. Each source links out.
Over 70 percent of the nation's roads are in snowy regions that receive more than 5 inches of average annual snowfall, and nearly 70 percent of the US population lives in them.
FHWA Road Weather ManagementState and local agencies spend more than 2.3 billion dollars a year on snow and ice control operations, and winter road maintenance is roughly 20 percent of state DOT maintenance budgets.
FHWA Road Weather ManagementPeople injured each year in vehicle crashes on snowy, slushy or icy pavement, alongside more than 1,300 killed. Cycle time is a safety number before it is a cost number.
FHWA Road Weather ManagementOf weather related vehicle crashes happen on snowy, slushy or icy pavement, and 15 percent happen during snowfall or sleet. Average arterial speeds drop 30 to 40 percent on snowy pavement.
FHWA Road Weather ManagementVersion of FHWA's Best Practices for Road Weather Management, a public collection of agency case studies on winter maintenance decision support and route management.
FHWA, best practices for road weather managementSnowplow route optimization software questions, answered
Key terms
- What is snowplow route optimization?
- Snowplow route optimization is the work of dividing a road network into plow routes that each finish inside a target cycle time, given lane miles, truck and spreader capacity, salt reload trips, turn restrictions and street priority. It is a vehicle routing problem with priorities and capacity, not a delivery route.
- What is a cycle time target?
- The time it takes a truck to complete a full pass of its route and return to the start. Agencies set targets by priority class, then judge storm performance against them. If a route cannot make its target with the trucks assigned, that is a design problem, not an operator problem.
Why is it different from delivery routing?
Because you are covering edges rather than visiting points, you often plow the same street more than once in different directions, capacity runs out mid route and has to be reloaded, and priority streets have to be finished before residential streets are started at all.
How much does winter maintenance actually cost?
FHWA reports that state and local agencies spend more than 2.3 billion dollars a year on snow and ice control operations, and that winter road maintenance is roughly 20 percent of state DOT maintenance budgets. Materials, overtime and equipment wear all track cycle time.
Does this replace our AVL or GPS system?
No. If you have vehicle location and spreader telemetry, this reads from it. What lives here is the route design, the priority classification and the pass record, which is what a council question and a next season plan actually need.
Why we are building this
Plow routes are one of the few operational designs that get made once and then inherited for 20 years. The city grows, the trucks change, the priorities move, and the map stays laminated.
The costs are not hidden. FHWA puts snow and ice control above 2.3 billion dollars a year for state and local agencies, and the safety numbers are worse than the cost numbers.
We would rather build this with superintendents than with consultants. Tell us how your routes were drawn, and where we have got it wrong.
Where the requirement comes from
Federal and pooled fund sources on winter maintenance practice.
- FHWA road weather, snow and ice The federal summary of snow and ice impacts on roads, including the 2.3 billion dollar annual control cost and crash figures.
- FHWA Road Weather Management program Programme home for road weather research, decision support systems and winter maintenance guidance.
- FHWA best practices for road weather management Case studies from agencies on winter maintenance decision support, staffing and route management.
- Clear Roads winter maintenance research The multi state pooled fund research programme for winter highway maintenance equipment, materials and methods.
How much does Neurobird Snowplow Route Optimization cost?
Priced per agency and scaled by lane miles, because that is what the work actually is. Operators, trucks and storms are unlimited on every tier.
- Street priority classification
- Route building
- Cycle time targets
- Pass logging
- Email support
- Everything in Small agency
- Capacity and reload planning
- Mid storm reassignment
- Storm reports for council
- Named contact
- Everything in City
- Multi yard optimisation
- AVL and spreader data import
- Season performance analysis
- Onboarding included
Get free early access
If you plan winter routes, tell us how they were drawn and what happens when a truck goes down at 3am.
Straight answer on where this is: In development. Early access gets the working preview, a say in what ships first, and early access pricing. It does not get you a login today.
Prefer email? Write to office@neurobird.com and a person will reply. No autoresponder.